Editorial

Motto:
"Only the ones who respect their precursors, will merit the respect of their successors."
"

The Jubileum celebrating the 50 years of existence of the Wood Industry Faculty in Brasov geve us the opportunity to reflect upon the motto above.

Organising the festivities occasioned by this Jubileum and the 7-th edition of the International Conference "Wood Science and Engineering in the Third Millenium" - ICWSE 2009 - between 4-6 June 2009, convinced us that our industrial partners and the almost 7,000 graduates of our faculty still praise and respect the ALMA MATER BRASOVENSIS.

In first line, we think of the 26 sponsors of the PRO LIGNO Foundation - main organiser of the Jubileum - to whom we address our sincerest gratitude and highest consideration.

We also wish to emphasise the massive participation of former students, whole graduate classes from the beginning of this faculty being enthusiastically present at this event.

The importance and place of our faculty within the universitary community and the local community was acknowledged by the participation of personalities from highest level: Prof.dr.eng. Sorin Gabriel POPESCU - General Manager in the Ministry of Education, Research and Innovation, Mr. Ion GONTEA - Prefect of Brasov County, Mr. George SCRIPCARU - mayor of Brasov city, the whole Academic Council of "Transilvania" University in Brasov.

The Diploma of Excellency awarded to the Faculty of Wood Industry by the Ministry of Education, Research and Innovation, signed personally by the Minister of Education - Ms. Ecaterina ANDRONESCU - confirms the quality of the education process within our faculty.

The congratulation messages received from similar institutions from Europe: the University in Hamburg, the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences in Vienna, the Technical University in Zvolen, as well as renown organizations, such as IUFRO, reflects the prestige and recognition of our faculty at international scale.

We can not forget mentioning hereby the 80 participants of ICWSE-2009. Among these, I wish to address special thanks to the 37 foreign participants, coming from 15 countries from all over the world, building-up here, in Brasov, in June, a strong forum for exchange of ideas and future collaborations. The 108 articles published within the Conference Proceedings, covering not less than 802 pages, reflects not only quantitatively, but also qualitatively the interest of scientists from all over the world.

This is why future students and teachers are motivated to continue the teaching and research tradition within our faculty and we, the present staff, are able to hope for the future of this institution.

VIVAT, CRESCAT, FLOREAT THE FACULTY OF WOOD INDUSTRY IN BRASOV

Prof.dr.ing. Gavril BUDAU
Dean and Executive Manager of PRO LIGNO Foundation